Sunday, June 26, 2011

English voice casts announced for Studio Ghibli's "The Borrower Arrietty"

by Chris MaGee

We all know that Studio Ghibli now has a long-standing partnership with the folks at Disney to release their films here in North America, and for the most part they've been doing a pretty good job. Not only have Disney been releasing top notch DVDs of Hayao Miyazaki's and Isao Takahata's films in North America, but they also manage to get each new Ghibli film a short theatrical release. Oh, and then there's the English voice casts, often made up of the who's-who of Hollywood.

Studio Ghibli's latest film, Hiromasa Yonebayashi's "The Borrower Arrietty", is in the process of getting the Disney English dub treatment in advance of its limited theatrical run on February 17th of next year. Who will be giving voice to tiny Arrietty and her family of Borrowers? According to Anime News Network Disney has lined up 18-year-old singer and actress Bridgit Mendler, star of Disney's series "Good Luck Charlie", as the voice of Arrietty. She will be joined by a cast that includes Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, David Henrie and Carol Burnett. If you're in the UK, though, expect to hear different voices in "The Borrower Arrietty". Apparently the UK release will feature "The Lovely Bones" and "Atonement" star Saoirse Ronan as Arrietty as well as the voices of Tom Holland, Mark Strong, Olivia Colman, Phyllida Law and Geraldine McEwan. That version of "The Borrower Arrietty" will be released in Britain on July 29th of next year.